Ivy is 19 months old!

The city of Nice is celebrating the Promenade du Paillon turning 1 year old. This greenbelt or coulé verte runs through the heart of the old part of town along the old riverbed (the river is now underground). We explored various workshops (bees, honey tasting, and beeswax candle crafting), went to a Guignol puppet show, had our picture taken with various props, and attended the evening spectacle featuring aerial dancers suspended by giant transparent balloons. Before we headed home, the kids held an impromptu dance party along the promenade.

A fun day for Ivy to turn 19 months old.


Sleep is still not great. Ivy normally wakes 3-4 times per night. I try to put her down without nursing the first time she wakes up (usually around 11 pm). Sometimes it fails spectacularly. I just won't dwell on how my other kids were sleeping the entire night by this age...

Last night Ivy woke up at 2 am and 5 am and it felt amazing to have so much sleep. I actually woke up at 1:30 wondering why she hadn't woken up yet. And then I couldn't get back to sleep, so I crept into her room to make sure she was breathing. The crazy things you do when you're a parent.

She loves to nurse (picture taken by Zari). 

Pottying is fantastic. Ivy's diaper is dry most days and she goes pee every time I ask her to.

Ivy understands and says lots of words in both French and English. She's good at saying back words I throw at her. If they're too complex, she babbles out something passable and makes her siblings laugh.

There's an iron cannonball mounted on the corner of our street, a remnant from an invading Turkish fleet besieging Nice in 1543. Ivy looks for it every time we're headed in or out. It's a useful distraction technique if she happens to be throwing a temper tantrum on the way home.

Sibling pictures

Other odds and ends

Dumpster diving finds this week: a teddy bear and a pair of sport sandals for Inga.

I borrowed a sewing machine from someone at church and am finishing a dress for Zari. She's getting baptized in a few weeks and needed something for the occasion. After that it will become either a dress (maybe I'll dye it a fun color) or a nightgown. I made it out of an antique linen sheet that I bought for 7 Euros.

Eric caught a large octopus last week. We made a cold marinated salad out of it. It tasted good but was quite rubbery. Our chef neighbor downstairs gave us some hints on how to prepare it properly. You either have to whack it as hard as possible several times to break down the tissue, or you freeze it for a day or two before cooking it. And Eric probably undercooked it given how large it was. Maybe he'll catch another one and we can try it again.

I made these coconut cookies and this coconut cake. Both are excellent! I only baked the cookies for 15-17 minutes, until they were golden brown. Be sure to use unsweetened coconut for both recipes.

The kids are on fall break this week and next.

My mom arrives on Monday for a 2-week visit!